I was going to post my pictures of the burns I received from laser hair removal on your site and I joined the forum but can’t seem to post them anywhere.
I am attaching them here if you’d like to put them out there. I don’t think there is enough information on the problems that can occur. I would never have expected anything like this to happen and I am having a very difficult time with this. I had this done on Thursday and have been told that it will take months to heal.
ouch. it would be helpful to provide the name of the machine, settings, and clinic info as well. looks like you have darker skin too. i wonder just how high of settings they used on you.
It has been very painful and only today my ankles are looking like their normal size with just a little swelling still. They used the Cynosure machine with what they say are standard settings - I don’t understand it all but I think they said 755 - 15 spot 20/20???
I really don’t have dark skin but I am not a fair skinned person either. I also had the cynosure Affirm done on my face and that turned out awesome and I would love to do it again but now I am afraid to do anything else because of the one time that something can happen it can be this horrible - I couldn’t imagine going through something like this on my face.
what did the clinic say? it could also be a malfunction in the machine. I would press them to find out what actually went wrong. It sounds like an alex laser since you said 755nm, so it’s probably Apogee and they used 20 joules at 20 pulse? If you’re darker than a type III, that might have been too high. Still, if they’re experienced, they should have been able to tell they were burning you before completing both legs!
oh my gosh - I am so sorry. Have you been to a dermatologist to see if there is anything you can do to help it heal? Has the clinic given you anything? What clinic are you going to?
It is hard to tell exactly what happened as the pictures are way too small. Can you upload some larger pictures or something a little bit closer. Or maybe describe them in better detail. Color, depth, density, swelling, presence of blisters, and anything else you can think of.
Given that I can’t really see what the lesions look like, I would venture to guess that they are either:
Bruising, which can happen and is pretty self limiting.
Crusting which is usually more likely, but your pictures just don’t quite look that way. These are also self limiting.
The most important point is that it will take time to heal, how much depends on what actually happened. But there isn’t much that can be done at this point, one needs tincture of time. In the meantime, I would go back to the center. They should be managing this. Also, make sure that you keep your legs moisturized and out of the sun.
Thanks all! It is nice have this forum and know that people are concerned.
I had to have Andrea upload the pictures because I couldn’t attach them for some reason but basically I had raised red blisters/rash all over my lower legs with the most blistering around my ankles. It did and still does feel a little like I was bruised and my legs were very swollen, especially my ankles and was painful to move or walk on them. They are starting to heal and I do realize that it is going to take time - this is the hard part to wait and wonder. I do still have some blisters around my ankles but they are smaller and they itch really bad. I have been putting burn cream on them (Silver Sulfadiazine Cream) that their medical director prescribed and had them pick up, pay for and deliver to me. The spa has been very sincere and is checking up on me regularly and I understand these things can happen but feel like the settings were just too high for me. I do not tan and had not been in the sun prior but I did use a lotion (Loreal Sublime Glow that is a moisturizer and natural skin tone enhancer) the day before (only one time) and I advised them of this and said I’d wait but two of them said it should be fine. They don’t think this was a factor but I wonder if it was. She did a test and used the same lotion and did her own leg and used the same settings to see and said nothing happened to her so I don’t know why it happened to me but am now at a point of just waiting and it looks like it will be ok - eventually. I still can see all of the marks but they are flattening out so I am hoping they fade away with the time but am fearful that I will have the discoloration and need a fade cream or microdermabrasion to help with that. And I am afraid about sun exposure beccause although I use sunscreen we go camping all summer and are out on the lake - do you think I will have to cover up?
Red raised blisters/rash that itch does not sound like a thermal reaction but a hive like (allergic like) reaction. These kind of reactions can occur as a result of reacting to the follicular destruction and are not very common. Bruising can also present with a red lesions, but they shouldn’t be raised. A thermal reaction would tend to have black specks and spots from the destroyed melanin. Thermal reactions take longer to heal. Hive like reactions tend to resolve pretty quick.
I would suggest that you stop the silver sulfadiazine and just use vasoline to keep your legs moist. The sulfadiazine can actually cause allergic reactions.
LaserBurned, the easiest way to upload pictures is to upload them to www.photobucket.com and post the HTML code they provide for each picture right within your post here. It will then appear in the post.
I think using the lotion with tanning stuff in it might have caused this impact at least in part. Of course, they won’t admit to that now.
